Academia as a vocation. Thoughts on teaching, scholarship, and the other things that the privilege of being an academic affords the ability to think about. I also use this blog when I teach as a central repository of stuff related to various courses, so you'll find some of that if you browse here too.

21.5.12

S/S/F Summer 2012: Ender's Game

Here is a place for people to post their questions for the class discussion of Ender's Game as comments.

4 comments:

How do the shifting identities of The Goal and The Enemy interact with and affect each other throughout the book. For instance, on page 35 Graff identifies The Goal as the survival of the human race by saying, "As far as the rest of the biosphere is concerned, we could be wiped out and it would a adjust, it would get on with the next step in evolution. But humanity doesn't want to die. As a species, we have evolved to survive."

The personal and public growth of Peter and Valentine play an integral (and in my opinion, very interesting) role in the message of this book, particularly as a reflection of and potential foil to Enders experience in the military and with the Buggers. The choice to use Demosthenes and Locke as Valentine and Peter's alter egos is very deliberate. Why does Card choose these personalities versus other famous figures? Are there other figures that would have suited either Peter or Valentine's purposes more? For fun, also consider who Ender's (and other characters) alter egos could be.

On page 26, Graff told Ender that "human beings are free except when humanity needs them.... if humankind survives, we were good tools." However, I could not see who would use these "tools". Also, does "tool" mean social roles or actors? If so, why did not Graff say social role instead of tools which sounded more utilitarian?

Why is Nose the Rose treated with so much respect and at the same time antipathy? Does birth or social standing play an important structural role in Enders Game or does it not? How is Enders birth “different”? Refracting Mazer Rackem how does the Enders fit into the theme of being “different”? What do they share in common?